Sonith
@_sonith • 18,128 subscribers
@zfellows, https://t.co/FtvC59XrU2 | interviewing people I’m curious about...
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My conversation with immad, CEO and co-founder of Mercury. Immad's story is so unique yet largely underdiscussed. His father owned a mechanic shop and his mom was a teacher. After immigrating to the US, he spent nearly a decade pivoting before finally selling his first company for 45M. We dug into the sheer pain tolerance required to pivot constantly and still find sources of motivation, something many early-stage founders don't hear about enough. From there, Mercury got off the ground — but with a unique twist. Immad generally doesn't work weekends and has still built one of the most successful fintechs. This goes entirely against Twitter hype that promotes working every waking hour, and Immad's clarity on this topic was refreshing. He feels like he's "playing the bonus levels" and is still just getting started. Mercury is now worth multiple billions of dollars with 500M+ in recurring revenue, 10 consecutive quarters of profitability, and still growing 40% YoY. I hope you enjoy this conversation, Immad's clarity on company building, and learning about his life. PS. As quite the ending, Immad & I tried Habanero hot sauce off his conference room table! Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 2:11 Growing Up in Pakistan And Moving to London 6:37 "Yelp For London" and Early Entrepreneurial Endeavors 10:45 Pivoting From Flash Games to Mobile Ad Networks 12:15 Selling a Company After 8 Years of Pivoting 16:42 Thank You to Macroscope and Timeless Partners 17:56 Meeting His Wife Through Facebook 19:09 Finding Your Life’s Work 22:35 The Origins of Mercury 26:44 The Importance of Design at Mercury 27:37 How Mercury Landed Its Initial Customers 29:12 Raising Mercury's Seed Round 31:09 The Choice to Not Work Weekends 34:58 Immad's Best Startup Ideas 36:15 Are There Moats with AI? 38:05 Mercury’s 10-year vision 39:50 From Angel Investing to Formalizing a New Fund 42:13 Paul Graham's Influence 44:33 Parenting Philosophy 46:01 Sources of Happiness 46:52 Immad & I Taste Hot Sauce Off a Conference Table!
Sonith89,257 Aufrufe • vor 1 Monat
My conversation with James Currier, co-founder of NFX. James grew up in New Hampshire to a carpenter father and a music teacher mother. He left home at 13 on a full scholarship to Phillips Exeter Academy. Then Princeton and HBS. After college, he sailed to Tahiti and worked for Rupert Murdoch building Asian satellite TV in Hong Kong. At 24, a mysterious misdiagnosis forced him back to the US and led him to Boston. James has since founded various widely successful internet companies, frames life downstream of network effects, and deploys capital via NFX. This was one of my favorite conversations about human psychology and finding direction in life. Filled with so many unique stories and lessons. Enjoy! Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 01:31 Selling Worms to Fishermen at 6 Years Old 03:20 From a Dirt Road to Phillips Exeter Academy 04:49 The Hovercraft Corporation of America 07:48 Sailing Across the North Atlantic 09:18 Misdiagnosed in Communist China 10:41 Joining Battery Ventures in the 90s 12:25 Throwing Parties for Hundreds of Tech Associates 13:25 The Origins of Tickle 16:42 The $100M Healthcare IT Clusterf*ck 18:19 The Next 30-Year Technology Window 23:50 When to Start Your Own Company 26:26 The Importance of Geography: San Francisco vs. New York 29:34 AI, Consciousness, and Talking to God 31:51 Discovering Meditation and the Awakened Mind 34:27 Why You Work Best From 10 PM to 2 AM 36:07 Founder Psychology, Psychedelics and Self-Discovery 39:05 Status & Human Interaction 40:49 The Preferred Attachment Theory 42:40 The Real Value of College 44:01 People vs. Capital 47:56 What True Hustle Actually Looks Like 49:56 "Dad Talks" About Sex and Drugs 53:41 Quitting Alcohol at 21 54:42 F*cking Around at Scale
Sonith142,228 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten
My conversation with Kayvon Beykpour, co-founder of Macroscope and Periscope. We talk about selling for $120M pre-launch to dick costolo at Twitter, turning down Elon Musk, getting trolled by Kobe Bryant and much more. His family immigrated to the Bay Area from Iran and he grew up an aspiring filmmaker. With a push from his mom, however, he toured and eventually got admitted to Stanford. This led to a series of software startups with his best friends and eventual acquisitions from Blackboard and Twitter. He led product there and eventually (graciously) turned down Elon to co-found Macroscope. Kayvon is an incredible storyteller, family man, & product mind. And while his accomplishments are many, he's an even better person. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did! Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 1:54 Fleeing the Iranian Revolution to California 4:32 How Gaming Sparked a Career in Tech 8:28 Growing Up With 12 Kids 12:32 Pissing Off an Apple Exec with a Jailbroken iPhone 4:29 From a Cardboard Sign to Winning Emmys 19:20 Building Software While Skipping Class 20:53 Selling $100k Apps to Best Buy & HP 22:32 Getting Acquired Over a Spam Call 27:03 The Importance of Passion 34:21 The Origins of Periscope 39:20 Scott Belsky Invented "Teleportation" 43:20 Six Months of Failed Designs 47:33 Selling to Twitter Before Launching 54:07 Trolled by Kobe Bryant 57:41 Turning Down Elon Musk 01:01:54 Founding Macroscope 01:10:21 His Two Most Consequential Life Decisions
Sonith76,277 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten
Here’s my conversation with Zach Dell and Justin Lopas, co-founders of Base Power Company. Zach comes from Blackstone, Thrive Capital, and a lifetime of mentorship from his father, Michael Dell 🇺🇸. Justin comes from leading efforts at SpaceX, Anduril, and world-class execution alongside Elon Musk. I learned so much. And for everyone watching, this will give you a tiny glimpse into their exponential growth and recent $4B valuation. It's clear Base Power will be a household name. Enjoy!! Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 1:43 The Base Talent Filter 4:00 Lessons from Michael Dell 6:15 Zach’s First Startup 8:45 The Slow Midwest Automotive Industry 15:45 The Base Recruiting Strategy 20:40 Origins of Base: How Zach and Justin Met 23:55 Cut Your Costs, Not Your Power 26:02 The First Battery Install 33:55 Energy Trading and Arbitrage 36:02 The Path to a $100B 40:50 Base Pace 45:15 Don’t Tell Your Grandkids All You Did Was B2B SaaS
Sonith106,948 Aufrufe • vor 5 Monaten
My conversation with Frank J. Guzzone, the Head of Design at Thrive Capital. Frank’s career journey is an unconventional one. He started as a medical scribe at a hospital center outside of DC before switching careers and moving to New York City to work with some of the largest global brands, and most recently building the design function at Thrive Capital from the ground up. His design philosophy blends scientific rigor with creative intuition. In his mind, the best design feels effortless, but you should sweat every detail to get there. Frank is an incredible designer and an even better person. We discuss his life story, the mechanics of great design, how to name a company, his work at Thrive and much more. Hope you enjoy! Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 01:57 Hospitality and Hard Work 03:06 Choosing UVA Over Art School 07:37 Early Creative Outlets 13:49 Oscar Health 23:02 Going Viral on Instagram 25:06 Freelancing for Apple, Rimowa, and More 31:32 Building Thrive's design function 37:52 How to Name a Startup 42:12 Design as an expression of Thrive's values 47:20 Why Good Design is Invisible 48:48 Design Fellowship 57:08 Work-Life Balance 59:43 Adaptation is a Superpower
Sonith45,553 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten
Here’s my conversation with AJ Vaynerchuk AJ co-founded VaynerMedia & VaynerSports with his brother, Gary Vaynerchuk. They’ve also invested early in Uber, Venmo, and many others. We discuss: - the Vaynerchuk backstory and his formative years - profitably scaling to multiple 9 figures in revenue - how Crohn’s disease gave him perspective - AI + the defensibility of live sports And much more. AJ’s incredibly AI-forward, full of energy & competition, and simultaneously a great family man. Hope you get a glimpse into what makes him so special. Enjoy! Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 06:03 Earning $30,000 at 13 selling Bobbleheads 07:46 Making $2,000 at a Garage Sale 12:24 How Crohn's Disease Changed His Career 16:26 Scaling VaynerMedia from 12 to 400 Employees 18:38 The Contrast Between Gary and AJ's Partnership 23:49 Travis Kalanick's Call to Test the First NYC Uber 27:30 The Origins of VaynerSports: Acquiring an Agency 29:15 How to Think About Starting a New Business 31:18 How College Kids Can Get Hired in the AI Age 34:31 Why Live Sports is the Most Defensible Business 39:21 The Vaynerchuk Genetics of Extreme Competitiveness 41:57 Vayner HQ and the Future of NFTs 43:53 Why I Started a Podcast
Sonith16,097 Aufrufe • vor 25 Tagen
Here's my conversation with David Tisch We talk about why you can’t replicate career paths, the importance of taste, playing in the world series of poker, BoxGroup’s history, and a bunch more. I hope you enjoy! (0:00) Intro (1:33) Focusing on Tomorrow (4:22) A Bet Against the Cable Monopoly (6:02) A Historical Lens to Understand the Future (9:40) Tech is Filled with Rebels (11:55) Early NYC Tech Scene (14:26) Building a Skunkworks Team Inside a "411" Company (16:25) Co-Founding Techstars NYC (19:56) Baseball Cards and Collectibles (23:42) Rejecting Analogies: Extracting Lessons vs. Forcing Comparisons (24:56) The Myth of Linear Success Stories (27:19) Why You Can’t Replicate a Career Path (30:17) The Emotional Toll of Failure (32:21) No One Can Give You Good Advice (34:01) Peter Thiel, Facebook, and Uber (36:36) ChatGPT Beating Google (37:37) Focus on the Founder’s Story (38:26) The BoxGroup Competitive Edge (40:44) Why Social Media is Inherently Good (43:11) Parenting Philosophy (45:19) Playing the World Series of Poker While Bored in Law School (46:34) The Importance of Taste (52:26) The Famous Doorman (55:05) Meet Interesting People (56:50) Why Cold Emails Fail
Sonith44,689 Aufrufe • vor 4 Monaten
Here is my episode with Dwarkesh Patel We discuss: - living in India as a kid and college days - how he interviewed Zuck, Patrick Collison, and others (with minimal reputation) - what most people don’t know about him Plus his mentors, misunderstandings about competition, and much more. Links to other platforms below. Enjoy! Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 3:19 Intense Mental Math Training as a Child in India 4:43 Being Prescribed a Bath in Milk and Cow Dung 11:44 Building a Career His Parents Advised Against 14:19 Choosing a Job Based on a $1M Salary 21:34 Ideas Are Supposed to Be Terrible When You're Young 24:51 $10,000 Wire From an Internet Stranger 28:25 Jeff Bezos' Comment Kept My Podcast Alive 29:21 The Email Strategy used to Interview the World's Top Minds 34:11 Dwarkesh's Quest to Optimize Ice Cream Consumption 41:40 Why Podcasting Isn't Competitive
Sonith83,480 Aufrufe • vor 10 Monaten
.Kayvon Beykpour on how scott belsky “changed the trajectory” of his company: "Even in my darkest times at Periscope, banging our head against the wall… You would get off a call with Scott and you would get full of energy, full of excitement. He would refill your passion by injecting some of his and also steering you right direction." “Scott was the biggest cheerleader for our vision… He's incredibly thoughtful, his ability to parse a product experience or a mock-up and find its most Interesting qualities or its most vulnerable weaknesses is unmatched. I've never met a product thinker who's able to like not only distill a product experience into what makes it special or what's holding it back, but being able to articulate that back to you in a way that's like useful is top-notch. His energy and his passion and his creative thinking is the dream for a founder to have… Being that that thought partner changed the trajectory of Periscope for us.”
Sonith14,829 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten
Kevin Hartz (Kevin Hartz) co-founded Eventbrite (NYSE: EB), Xoom (IPO & acq. PayPal), and A*, an early-stage venture firm managing hundreds of millions of dollars. Recently, he also co-founded Sauron, a high-end home security company. In this episode, we start by discussing his early upbringing in the East Bay of San Francisco, some of which he spent building bombs. We then discuss: - His explorative time at Stanford & Oxford - Growing close to the likes of Thiel and the PayPal mafia - Revenue wars with Airbnb - Co-founding / investing in many notable companies worth billions of dollars - And more Episode below :)
Sonith51,119 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr
This week's episode on YESTERDAY PODCAST with Brian Distelburger was a cool moment for me. I grew up hearing about the company he and Howard Lerman IPO’d. We discussed: - Early days in NYC - Shutting down a 20M ARR business to pivot - Their office catching on fire - And much more Link below :)
Sonith40,942 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr
Episode 1 of Origins with Jack Altman (Jack Altman): Jack is the founder of Lattice, a multi-billion dollar company. Now, he manages Alt Capital, a $150M early-stage venture fund. He’s one of the most thoughtful and genuine people we’ve had the privilege of sitting down with, and a good friend of ours and Origins. We discuss Jack’s early upbringing, time in college, and going from Princeton to investment banking. Soon quitting, he invested as a venture capitalist with Sam Altman and joined the fastest-growing YC startup... which later failed. This led to the formation of Lattice, a multi-billion dollar company, and now Alt Capital. Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 1:38 Childhood and growing up 5:23 Parents, school and brothers 13:33 Getting into banking 15:29 Jack's wife 17:40 Career & investing 28:52 Building Lattice 35:25 Strengths, weaknesses, and tradeoffs 36:55 Hobbies and children 41:48 Alt capital 43:42 What drives you? 45:50 Today’s youth 49:33 Intuition 50:35 Predicting the future 52:25 Cold email, rejection, and competing 58:27 Kindness and helpfulness 01:00:15 Day trading and stocks 01:02:00 What people don’t know about Jack
Sonith43,749 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr
This week's episode on YESTERDAY PODCAST with Chad Byers dives into his life story. We discussed: - Turning $250K into $400M with Robinhood - Traveling the world in college & his 20s - Soon being a dad and his life approach - Timeless principles taught by his dad Link below :)
Sonith36,890 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr